1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid jet head which jets liquid droplets onto a recording medium to perform recording, a liquid jet apparatus, and a method of manufacturing a liquid jet head.
2. Related Art
Recently, there has been used a liquid jet head of an ink jet system that ejects ink droplets onto a recording paper or the like to record characters or figures thereon, or ejects a liquid material onto the surface of an element substrate to form a functional thin film thereon. In the ink jet system, liquid such as ink or a liquid material is guided from a liquid tank into a channel through a supply path, and pressure is applied to liquid filled in the channel to thereby eject the liquid from a nozzle that communicates with the channel. When ejecting liquid, characters or figures are recorded, or a functional thin film having a predetermined shape is formed by moving the liquid jet head and a recording medium.
FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate a liquid jet head of this type described in JP 2009-500209 W. FIG. 18A is a schematic cross-sectional view of a channel portion. FIG. 18B is a perspective view of the channel portion from which a nozzle plate is removed. Discharge channels 1508 and non-discharge channels 1510 are partitioned by operation side walls 1507 and alternately arranged on a base 1502. Channel extending areas 1504 are formed above the discharge channels 1508 in continuous from the respective discharge channels 1508. The discharge channels 1508 and the non-discharge channels 1510 are alternately open up and down through the channel extending areas 1504. A nozzle plate 1505 on which nozzles 1506 are open is adhered above the channel extending areas 1504. That is, the illustrated liquid jet head is a side shooter liquid jet head which discharges liquid droplets from the discharge channels 1508 in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the base 1502. Liquid such as ink is filled so as to circulate from one side toward the other side in the longitudinal direction of each of the channels. Electrodes 1511 are formed on the surfaces of the operation side walls 1507 which partition the discharge channels 1508 and the non-discharge channels 1510. A drive signal is applied to the electrodes 1511 to operate the operation side walls 1507 to apply pressure to ink inside the discharge channels 1508, thereby ejecting ink droplets from the nozzles 1506.
As with JP 2009-500209 W described above, in JP 7-205422 A, JP 8-258261 A, JP 11-314362 A, and JP 10-86369 A, there is described a liquid jet head in which grooves which serve as channels are alternately open up and down in the longitudinal direction of the channels. In JP 7-205422 A, JP 8-258261 A, JP 11-314362 A, and JP 10-86369 A, there is described an edge shooter liquid jet head which includes a channel row having channels arranged in a row in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of each of the channels, and discharges liquid droplets from an end on one side in the longitudinal direction of each discharge channel.
JP 2009-500209 W describes a channel row having channels arranged in a row in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of each of the channels. However, there is no description regarding forming a plurality of channel rows or forming a plurality of channel rows with narrow intervals so as to have high density. Also in JP 7-205422 A, JP 8-258261 A, JP 11-314362 A, and JP 10-86369 A, there is no description regarding forming a plurality of channel rows or forming a plurality of channel rows with narrow intervals.
Further, in the liquid jet head described in JP 2009-500209 W, liquid is filled into both of the discharge channel 1508 and the non-discharge channel 1510. Therefore, liquid makes contact with the surfaces of electrodes of both of the channels. Therefore, when conductive ejection liquid is used, it is necessary to place a protection film or the like on the surfaces of the electrodes 1511 and the base 1502, which results in complicated and long manufacturing process steps.